The Ruling on Hanging Verses on Walls
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The Shaykh : Peace be upon you, and the mercy of Allah and His blessings.
The questioner : We heard from your eminence a fatwa stating that it is permissible to prefer paper money over metal coins, for example, ten metal coins for fifteen paper coins. We answered. Yes.
The Shaykh : And we will answer it.
The questioner : He says: I read a fatwa in a newspaper, a newspaper he named, stating that hanging verses is permissible if it is for the purpose of warning and reminding. We ask your eminence to clarify the ruling on hanging verses on walls.
The Shaykh : We have a position on this that has been published and distributed, and we have explained that this practice is not from the Companions, the Successors, or the Successors of the Successors, but rather it occurred recently. If the one who hangs them intends to draw near to Allah through it, and it was not legislated before, then drawing near to Allah in what was not legislated is a religious innovation (bid'ah). And if he intends by it to protect the place from devils, the Sunnah did not come with this method, but rather it came with reciting, for example, the Verse of the Throne, for whoever recites the Verse of the Throne in the night, a protector from Allah will not cease to be with him, and no devil will approach him until morning. Then, relying on it and believing that it is protection necessitates that a person neglects seeking protection through the prescribed means, as is apparent. And if it is for the sake of reminding, the matter is contrary to reality. For you may find a verse hanging on a wall and the people underneath it are engaging in what that hanging verse forbids. You may find a verse hanging on a wall, such as the saying of Allah the Exalted, "And do not backbite one another," and you find those sitting in this place backbiting people and not being reminded by it. So, hanging them on walls has no benefit, and it was not reported from the Salaf, and leaving it is preferable without a doubt. It is not permissible for a person to hang these verses on walls, especially since some people hang them for the sake of decoration, thinking that it makes the place better and more beautiful, or whenever a verse is written in a strange style, he finds that he cares about it and hangs it, and in this is a type of extension of the words of Allah the Mighty and Majestic.
The questioner : We heard from your eminence a fatwa stating that it is permissible to prefer paper money over metal coins, for example, ten metal coins for fifteen paper coins. We answered. Yes.
The Shaykh : And we will answer it.
The questioner : He says: I read a fatwa in a newspaper, a newspaper he named, stating that hanging verses is permissible if it is for the purpose of warning and reminding. We ask your eminence to clarify the ruling on hanging verses on walls.
The Shaykh : We have a position on this that has been published and distributed, and we have explained that this practice is not from the Companions, the Successors, or the Successors of the Successors, but rather it occurred recently. If the one who hangs them intends to draw near to Allah through it, and it was not legislated before, then drawing near to Allah in what was not legislated is a religious innovation (bid'ah). And if he intends by it to protect the place from devils, the Sunnah did not come with this method, but rather it came with reciting, for example, the Verse of the Throne, for whoever recites the Verse of the Throne in the night, a protector from Allah will not cease to be with him, and no devil will approach him until morning. Then, relying on it and believing that it is protection necessitates that a person neglects seeking protection through the prescribed means, as is apparent. And if it is for the sake of reminding, the matter is contrary to reality. For you may find a verse hanging on a wall and the people underneath it are engaging in what that hanging verse forbids. You may find a verse hanging on a wall, such as the saying of Allah the Exalted, "And do not backbite one another," and you find those sitting in this place backbiting people and not being reminded by it. So, hanging them on walls has no benefit, and it was not reported from the Salaf, and leaving it is preferable without a doubt. It is not permissible for a person to hang these verses on walls, especially since some people hang them for the sake of decoration, thinking that it makes the place better and more beautiful, or whenever a verse is written in a strange style, he finds that he cares about it and hangs it, and in this is a type of extension of the words of Allah the Mighty and Majestic.
Source
لقاء مفتوح ببريدة - 2 — archive.org (54:37)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.